‘Nova’s DiVinenzo makes impact as sixth man

Donte DiVincenzo was the man at Salesianum School in Delaware, leading the Sallies to a second straight DIAA title as a senior in 2015 and earning state Player of the Year honors.

St. George’s coach Rod Griffin was so impressed with the way DiVincenzo carried Salesianum to the championship that he likened the 6-5 guard to the leader of a five-piece band.

Griffin even had a name for the group that won four state playoff games after going 10-10 in the regular season. He called the Sallies Donte and the Miracles, according to the Wilmington News Journal.

“He refused to let that team lose,” Griffin told the News Journal at the time. “It always seemed like he gave them the spirit, and they worked hard, and they were always in the right spot. He was phenomenal.”

DiVincenzo brought that same energy to Villanova, only in a different capacity. The redshirt sophomore has not been the focal point during his time on the Main Line. He was a reserve as a redshirt freshman last season and was elevated to sixth man this season. He has been solid in that role. DiVincenzo is second on the team in assists per game (3.4), and third in scoring (13.8 ppg), rebounding (5.5) and minutes played (29.6).

He had such as impact that the coaches in the Big East selected DiVincenzo as the Sixth Man of the Year.

“Its big time,” DiVincenzo said of the award. “I didn’t think about it all year. That’s the biggest thing for me. The thing that means the most to me is that I didn’t think about it all year. I wasn’t trying to get that all year. I was just trying to help my team in any way possible and it just came with it.”

DiVincenzo picked up his award Wednesday and will be the first guy off the bench once again when the second-ranked and secondseeded Wildcats (27-4) take on the winner of the game between No. 7 seed Marquette and No. 10 DePaul Thursday night in the quarterfinal round of the Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden. Tip-off is 7 p.m.

Yet going from high school star to college reserve was not an easy transition. It took some time for DiVincenzo to get accustomed to his new role.

DiVincenzo missed the final 32 games of the national championship season in 2016 after fracturing the fifth metatarsal bone in his right foot. Sitting out as a redshirt proved to be quite beneficial.

“That’s when I learned to take my role and run with it,” DiVincenzo said. “My freshman year, when I was sitting out, I just tried to do the best I could on the scout team. Last year, I just tried to be the best I could coming off the bench. It’s the same thing this year. There was not different pressure, nothing more for me to do, other than what I did last year, just with more minutes.”

DiVincenzo received a little advice about being the sixth man from former teammate Josh Hart, who was in that role and earned Sixth Man of the Year honors when he was a sophomore in 2015.

“He talked to me throughout the year, to just stay committed to doing what we do and not worrying about that and all that will come,” DiVincenzo said. “It’s just a coincidence that we both won it at the same time.” Not really. “Both of them could have started as sophomores,” said Villanova coach Jay Wright, who called DiVincenzo the Michael Jordan of Delaware last season. “Both of them played starter minutes as sophomores. Both of them could see that they’re going to be leaders the next year. And both of them had major impact as sixth men. Those two have similar games, they really do. Let’s hope he ends up the same way as Josh.”

Hart earned All-America honors as a senior and was a first-round draft pick of the Los Angeles Lakers last year, No. 30 overall. He also was the Big East and Big 5 Player of the Year, co-Defensive Player of the Year in the Big East and the winner of the Julius Erving Award as the top small forward in the country.

While there are similarities between the two, there is at least one statistical difference. Hart was used almost exclusively as a sixth man as a sophomore. He only started two games that season. DiVincenzo has started 10 times this season, mostly because of the injury to guard Phil Booth. DiVincenzo started the seven games Booth missed with a broken right hand and the first two games after Booth returned to the lineup. DiVincenco also started against Big 5 rival Saint Joseph’s earlier in the season.

“I think that was actually harder,” DiVincenzo said of moving into the starting lineup. “During those games it was actually more difficult for me to bring that energy Phil brings to start the game. I think more so because there are more eyes on you to start the game. Once I got settled, and a couple of minutes when by, I was back to my normal routine. It was an adjustment for the first couple of games, but once we got past that I was perfectly fine.”

And now he’s back in his role as the sixth man and he is OK with that because while he may not start, DiVincenzo is usually on the court at the end of the game.

“That’s when all the things happen, at the end of the game,” DiVincenzo said. “That’s when the big shots are being made, the big stops are being made and as a player you want to be on the court at the end of the game.”